


The Biography of Isabella Herrera, First Canoness Superior of the Order of the Blue Robe

by Commissar_Jane



Category: Sisters of Battle - Fandom, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Female Friendship, Other, Trans Character, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 15:05:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1903521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Commissar_Jane/pseuds/Commissar_Jane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the first part of something I plan to have at least five parts for.  This took me far too long to write and I'm hoping posting this as I finish will be a greater incentive to get it done. No shipping in the first chapter, but given that this is supposed to be a full biography of a Sister of Battle(Schola to Tomb), there will be probably be some romance somewhere along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Biography of Isabella Herrera, First Canoness Superior of the Order of the Blue Robe

“Frak!” She swore realizing the time, fire drills were exactly at the morning nine bell and the firing range locked at five minutes after. She'd did what she could to the writing on her cloak and had made it so that under the armored corset it wouldn't be noticed, but that had cost her time, as had using the pict to record the writing. Novice Isabella checked the chronometer on the slate, then quickly dropped it to her cot, then swept her cloak over her head while reaching for her armor. Thankfully she had her boots and gauntlets on, but she'd have to put on the corset and activate the backpack on the run. And so she did, relying on her memory of the convents layout. She then remembered that the most direct route was through a corridor in the process of being cleansed.  
Looking around, she saw no one and so opened the door to the sound of streaming water hitting rock. She then squared her shoulders and marched through as though she were on a routine inspection. The hallway was filled only with servitors, so she was able to move with little difficulty. She made final check at the door at the opposite end of the hall. Shrug to check backpack, breathe to check the corset, flex to check the gauntlets, helmet's lenses were clean, and finally her bolt pistol's weight was comfortably sitting on her hip, opposite her sword. She pressed open the door, then upon seeing no one, she swung around the door, mouthing a prayer of thanks, and pressed the solid slab of some dark wood closed, quiet as a whisper.  
“ G'Morning, Sister Isabella” said a man's voice from behind her. Her face blanched at the sudden sound, then she spun on one heel, pretending to be in some kind of combat stance before she nodded politely to the wiry man behind her.  
“Deacon, good morning” She cursed inwardly at how her voice still sounded, too low to be a woman's, but not with the gruff register's of a man's voice.  
“Up to anything exciting this morning?” said the Deacon conversationally. He was a man of almost 100 years, but looked more like 65. His gray hair was parted at the side and his nose reminded Isabella of a bird of prey, but one so old that even his beak(or in this case nose) was starting to droop. He was from a hive world and still retained a nasally, quick accent that made him sound like he always had something important to say, even if it was just a joke. That last part had made him popular as “the laughing priest” with the laity, and even the canoness commander felt his humor was part of his usefulness. And Isabella had found his humor helpful in illuminating certain concepts of faith, though it did sometimes make him seem like an irreverend at times.  
“Firing drills” she said shortly, then realizing how defensive she must have sounded she added, “Specifically using heavy flamers.”  
“Just making conversation Sister, though I always wondered why the Sororitas were so keen on using fire”  
“In addition to being a useful weapon, it has symbolic value. Fire purifies.”  
“That it does. Anyway, I'd better let you get going” he waved a hand while yawning. Isabella wondered if it was his age or if he'd been up late the night before. She also realized that he had likely been setting her up for a flaming lesbian joke before thinking better of it.  
“Good to speak with you Deacon, Ave Imperator” She made the sign of the aquilla  
“Ave Imperator” he responded in kind.

Isabella strode quickly towards the firing range, she arrived at the same time as the instructor. Her name was Lucretia, and she was carrying two heavy flamers, the backpacks on each shoulder, with the cables looping around each arm to leave her hands free. She was a dishwater blonde woman of an unremarkable height and was built like heavy weapons she specialized in. She had served in the Order of the Bloody Rose and still bore the five pointed flower tattoo on her cheek. While she was something of a legend for downing enemy aircraft, she seemed to miss that the point of training was the development of skills, not simply the perfecting of them. Isabella had shot well enough the first day to impress her, but the memory of what she did to the other recruits who weren't so lucky stuck out in her mind. Isabella stood to attention while Lucretia unlocked the door to the range.  
“You're here early” grunted the stocky woman, turning the key both directions in an attempt to remember which way it turned, then turned it forcibly generating squeals of protest from the locking mechanism.  
“I thought you said to be here at the morning nine bell?” Isabella was genuinely confused and her voice showed it. She distinctly recalled there being some mention of the time, and that it was important. She was in the habit of leaving early, as she had transferred here from another schola two solar cycles ago and was still getting the lay of the land.  
“Did I? Sorry, I meant quarter past” Lucretia seemed unbothered by that fact, then after pulling the key out of the lock she realized the likely consequence of her mistake. “You didn't rush to get here or anything, right?”  
“No, uh well, something unexpected came up but, it's fine.”  
“More trouble with your uniform? I'd have thought they'd worked it out by now.”  
“Well, they have, but, um, my cloak was, well-”  
“Well, what? Out with it”  
“Defaced” Isabella said shamefully, as if some sin on her part had made the writing appear. Lucretia sighed through her nose, this girl was one her best, a hard worker who would serve well where ever she ended up, but she need to grow a spine when it came to dealing with those within her order, or she'd likely end up managing a farm on some Agri world at the ass end of the galaxy. Lucretia made a silent prayer of forgiveness for the presumption that some duties were better then others, but students like Isabella always seemed to strike a nerve with her. Then again both of them were new to this, and Isabella would grow in time, though given that she was almost 1.7 meters tall, Lucretia hoped Isabella would grow internally more than anywhere else.  
“We'll deal with it after the drills?” Lucretia offered, trying to balance her responsibility to her with those to her other students.  
“That's fine” Isabella replied meekly. Lucretia put her shoulder into the door and opened it revealing the training ground behind it. Some posts were arranged in a way that resembled an advancing column of infantry. Isabella noticed that all of the figures were images of men, which struck her as odd. Even growing up in a sheltered schola deep in the Segemtum Pacifica, she'd had access to the occasional holovid, even some of the entertainment ones, which routinely depicted unsanctioned psykers as wild and wicked women. She had noted through her research and writings that most of the unsanctioned psykers that were discussed were men. She figured she would have ask someone about that later, maybe even ask to review the literature as a policy paper for the canoness. After about five minutes of set up, Lucretia waved Isabella over. As she leaned in, Lucretia pointed to one of the two heavy flamers and said, “Can you check the seals on that one?” Isabella nodded once and began reciting the litany of completion while checking over the weapon to make sure that all the parts fit and that the promethium would flow properly. After finding no faults, she returned the weapon the the sister superior's hand.

After another few minutes the rest of the trainees began to flow in. One of them spotted Isabella and walked over towards her with a grin on her face. Her name was Liliana and she was one year younger than Isabella, but had an uncanny ability to guess what other people were thinking. Isabella was troubled by her, she seemed friendly and was cute, but Isabella could never figure out why she was interested in her. Liliana walked over to her and mockingly punched her below the pauldron. Isabella flinched in spite of herself, which made Liliana's smile all the more cat like, “that's two for flinching, girly” she said, throwing two quick punches in short succession. Isabella remembered her bad habit of assigning everyone a nickname, but given that she was okay with hers, she didn't say anything. After rubbing her arm, Isabella looked around and spotted another fellow novice who she knew, Elspeth Greer, who had seemed to take an instant dislike to her. She was popular with the other novices, but seemed to grate on the faculty, who regarded her as talented but presumptive. Isabella did what she could to keep out of her way, which seemed the best course. After the chronometer on the wall read a quarter past the nine bell, Lucretia called everyone to order, and quickly everyone fell into groups based on their class, commissar cadets standing trying to act as menacing as possible(Isabella found their posturing laughable, but she had stood in those shoes once, so it seemed unfair to judge them), future shock troops standing at attention silently, adepts milling about. Isabella found herself in the front row of a two by five formation of the novices, standing between Elspeth on her right and Liliana on her left.  
“Alright everyone, today we will be drilling with the heavy flamer. I understand many of you will never need to use this weapon after today, but that is no excuse for you not to know what it is and how it works. Adepts first, then storm troops, let's begin” Lucretia ordered, her voice carrying like the report of a bolter, and with a similar staccato quality. Isabella watched intently, this was her first experience with this type of weapon, but she'd used a hand flamer with some success, so she wasn't worried, but still she was nervous. She watched as the adepts tried to think their way through it, and the storm troopers tried to treat it like any other gun(which failed spectacularly). The commissar cadets managed to muddle through, though one young cadet almost lost her long hair to some blow-back, earning a scolding from Lucretia.  
Next, it was their turn as Novices, Lucretia started from the back row, on the assumption that those back there hadn't been paying attention. This wasn't the case, but many of them were clumsy with the heavy weapons, and Lucretia seemed to be more critical of the novices than the other trainees. After the first pair, the second pair went, and then the third pair. Isabella knew she and Liliana would be last but it gave her more time to study the mistakes that other people were making. Finally Elspeth and the novice next to her, a red haired girl who had an obvious crush on Elspeth, but both her and Elspeth seemed not to notice, they shared a nod and went to collect the heavy flamers from the previous pair. After acquitting themselves well, Lucretia called up Isabella and Liliana. Isabella thought for a second she saw something, a flash of light, but then it was gone.

Elspeth handed her the canisters and then dropped the nozzle too quickly for Isabella to catch it, spraying promethium onto Isabella's grieves. Isabella picked it up and acted like it was an accident, then shouldered the canisters. It seemed pretty manageable in terms of weight, but it was still uncomfortable. She lowered the nozzle, checked it to make sure it was okay, then continued towards the fresh set of “condemned heretics”. She assumed the firing posture and firing the flamer coating the lead elements of the column in a jet of flaming promethium. Alongside her Liliana followed her lead, torching from left to right. They moved in on either flank torching anything unfortunate enough to have survived the initial burst. After they cleared the group, Isabella noticed something reflective in the ash pile. She pointed it out to Liliana, then gave the “fall back” signal. As Liliana got out of of the potential blast radius, Isabella moved around the object and set it on fire.

  
After it didn't detonate, she gave the all clear hand sign and started walking back. Then she realized what the dimensions of the object were, about the same as her data slate. She inwardly cursed her stupidity, but she would still be fine. She breathed carefully as the fumes were a bit heavy in the air. As she arrived at the line some of the other novices looked impressed, as did Lucretia. She and Liliana closed off the nozzles and put them in the holster next to the now empty canisters. They slipped out of the straps and gently placed them before Lucretia, who waited until they were back in formation before addressing the students.  
“You all performed better than I expected.” She began, Isabella raised an eyebrow expecting condemnation “None of you needs to see the Medicae, and both of the flamers are intact.” Isabella smiled despite her best efforts to keep her composure. Lucretia continued at length about the proper technique, and how to best use the flamer, then dismissed the class, just in time for the chapel to chime the midday bell. As everyone else broke ranks and began talking and walking towards the schola's canteen, Isabella walked up to Lucretia and asked, “Do you want any help carrying the heavy flamer?”  
“No,” she growled in a voice that was rough from the day's shouting “but we need to fix your problem and this is a good excuse for you to follow me.” she quickly slung one of the flamers over her shoulder, and began walking towards the administratum building, leaving Isabella to scramble to get everything together and follow two steps behind her. As they passed through the north door of the training quad, Lucretia's quick steps became a distinct repetitive click-click-click of her armored boot against the stone floor, while Isabella's sounded more akin to a jittery spider learning to tap dance, in part due to her longer legs. They quickly arrived at the canoness's office. Her secretary, a member of the ordo dialogus, saw them approach and stood up and began to gesture in advance of her speaking.  
“What?” Said Lucretia angrily but quietly  
“The canoness is in a very important meeting” The woman began timidly and quitely, “she left strict instruction to not be interrupted by anyone”  
“Is there a way you can let her know we are waiting for her?”  
“Yes” exclaimed the woman excited at the prospect of not having to put herself between the angry woman bearing a heavy flamer and the wooden door. ”I can send an alert to her dataslate”  
“Do it now, we'll wait” The secretary(who's name Isabella finally read was Margaret) began writing in what would be a very neat cursive if it weren't for her trembling hands, then tapped the screen once to set the message and another time to send it. She then gestured for the two of them to sit down. Isabella unslung the flamer and sat in the chair, taking care to tuck one leg behind the other. She felt deeply embarrassed, she should have just kept quite about the whole thing, why did she even mention it...  
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Liliana had somehow managed to find her and get within an arm's reach without Isabella realizing it. While Isabella almost leaped from her chair, Lucretia looked over at her thoughtfully. “um, I'm, uh here because-” Isabella stammered out before Lucretia stopped her, “she'd still having uniform problems.”  
“Really? Okay, sorry, I was worried when I didn't see you in the chow line.” Liliana said  
“Thanks” replied Isabella glumly, then realizing she should be more polite, opened her mouth to add more, but was stopped by Lucretia.  
“You were her partner today during the flamer drills weren't you.”  
“Yeah! how'd we do?”  
“Considering it was your first time, good enough, but your partner here” Lucretia said nudging Isabella conspiratorially, “won't be there all the time, so make sure you know how to fire these by the book.” she added, tapping the canisters of the heavy flamer for emphasis. “Also on the subject of chow lines” she said snapping her fingers with sudden realization, “Tell the cook I set you and grab some food for the three of us, if anyone asks, I'm introducing you two to the canoness with a recommendation that you be trained for retributor duty.”  
“Yes Mistress” Liliana replied bobbing her head in respect, she then turned on her heel and began to quickly saunter towards the canteen  
“Hey wait” called out Isabella, “if you can, swing by our room and grab the wicker basket at the end of my cot”  
“Got it” Liliana called over her shoulder as she continued walking quickly away.  
“What's in the wicker basket?” asked Lucretia  
“Nail polish” admitted Isabella, a touch embarrassed, “I find it calming” she added.  
“Eh, while we're sitting here waiting, might as well” shrugged Lucretia, then she asked conversationally, “what colour are you going to paint them?”  
“White and black” replied Isabella nervously, “It's really just a touch up, I can do your nails too if you want.”  
“Yeah, why not?” said Lucretia nonchalantly.

After about a quarter of an hour Liliana returned somehow carrying three trays of food with the wicker basket neatly tucked into her elbow. She passed out the food while Isabella's stomach gurgled appreciatively. After digging in a bit, Liliana asked, “So what's the problem with your uniform?” Isabella sighed deeply before saying, “Someone defaced the cloak, which is really awful as it's taken them weeks to find one that's my size. I should just find a way to work around it.”  
“Why?” Asked Liliana in an incredulous voice, “why work around a problem that shouldn't be a problem.”  
“because it's this or...” Isabella trailed off. Lucretia blew a sigh out of her nose, as her mouth was full of food. She swallowed her bite while rolling her eyes and said, “Look, no one else is going to tell you this, but you need to ditch the false modesty and grow a spine” Both of her charges stared at her as if she had just profaned the sitting Ecclesiarch, but she seemed serious.  
“Don't get me wrong, I agree but-” began Liliana, then after faltering a moment, as if trying to perfect her language she continued, “Are we not called to be humble before the Emperor?”  
“When you're with your superiors up to and including Him-On-Terra, yes. When you are dealing with those in your squad, and those under your command you need to be as harsh as a Tallarn sandstorm, that's how you best serve His will.”  
“I- I understand” Isabella said in her best attempt at a calm voice. She did not feel the wisdom of the sister superior's words, but she knew that she was right. Sort-of. As she was maturing as a novice, she was coming to the realization that not all of the advice given to her was of equal merit, but Lucretia was right in her own way.  
This train of thought would have had a long journey had the door to the canoness's office not been opened with great force, to the sound of raucous laughter, as a tall woman strode out. Isabella later learned that she was only about 1.9 meters, but from where she was relative to Isabella she seemed as tall as an astartes, with broad shoulders and long legs. As Isabella gazed appreciatively at the newcomer's legs, until a forceful clearing of the woman's throat turned her gaze swiftly upward. She recognized her immediately and quickly made the sign of the Aquilla.  
“Don't salute” the woman snapped, “I'm not impor...” she was about to say important, then she saw the look of concern, tempered with admiration on the novice's face and her own voice and face softened.  
“Apologies, I am Palantine Breckenridge, and you are?”  
“Novice Isabella” Isabella said, her voice full of awe and respect, “I've read a lot of your work, you theories on force multiplication alone are astounding.”  
“Really?” said the older woman with a degree of genuine surprise, “That's...”  
“Well” Isabella began nervously, “I admit it's a bit self-serving of me, as we have something in common...” her voice trailed off, but her emphasis on the word thing made her meaning quite clear.  
Breckenridge chuckled and said, “It's okay, women like us are still His daughters.” She patted Isabella on the shoulder and quickly added, “Tell Blondie over there to give you my contact info, I'll see what I can do about getting you into my Order. Sacred Rose can always use another sharp mind.”  
“I would be honored, Palantine” Isabella said her voice trembling with admiration.  
“Stay alive, kiddo, Ave Imperator” Beckenridge gave her a brief, but tight hug.  
“Ave Imperator”

The Canoness's office was an interesting one, it looked out over the wide valley below the Schola, but it seemed less like an administrators office, as it had little that would identify it as belonging to any one person. Given the small holomap in the corner and the assortment of gear that was there it looked like a storage closet in a barracks, rather than an office of a woman known as the Earth-shaker. Canoness Filomena Carboni-Verdi was a short woman with powerful set of arms and an unearned reputation of aggression. Her dark skin contrasted against her white duty robes and bleached white hair. Her mild frown was one that spoke of frustration rather than anger. As she looked up her face resumed it's default expression, a grim face of neutrality  
“So” began Filomena, her voice soft and melodious “What demeaning nickname did the good Palentine assign me today?”  
“Um” Began Isabella in as polite and neutral a voice as she could muster, “She said to ask 'Blondie' for her contact details, so perhaps she meant-”  
“My assistant is a red-head, sweetie” Filomena's voice was kind, but had a hidden edge to it that implied that if there was something important to say to say it quickly. Lucretia stepped in after Isabella and made a polite cough.  
“Yes, Lucretia?”  
“Her robe has been-”  
“defaced I'm aware”  
“Who-?”  
“She took a photo of the damage and her attempt to fix it” she paused letting the fact that she had been monitoring communications sink in. “Also in future if it's laundry marker don't waste your effort.” Isabella flushed at her mistake, of course it was laundry mark-  
“So, Lucretia do you have any punishments in mind, since you have a suspect as to who did this?”  
“I do, it was probably Elspeth and I-”  
“It was Elspeth, but do you really think you can punish her in a way that won't end up hurting your other charges?”  
“um” began Isabella, still finding her voice “sorry to interrupt, but how'd you know it was Elspeth?”  
“She keeps her data slate on her about as religiously as her Aquila, that's how I know ”  
“Ohhh” said Isabella who was starting to work out how well monitored the situation at the schola actually was.  
“So then, about Elspeth, you can assign her all the devotionals and drills you want, but she won't change her attitude. And if her punishment is not sufficiently tied to her actions it will do nothing to change her behavior.”  
“So, what do you want me to do? Give her a stern talking to and send her to bed with no supper?”  
“No, I would like you to bring her here and let me do the talking.”  
Lucretia opened her mouth to reply, then stopped, paused and said in a deferential tone, “As you will it, Canoness.” she turned and departed. Isabella began to gesture towards the door, “I should probably just-” she had taken about three steps before an icy glare from the canoness stopped her in her tracks, “Stand at attention and await further instructions” she finished, he back ramrod straight. The Canoness softened her expression and beckoned Isabella forward. She gave a sad smile and asked in a level but amused tone, “do you know how much of a headache you've been?” Isabella felt really guilty at that but managed to squeak out a soft, sad “no.”  
“Don't worry, I know what it's like being the odd one out. I don't blame you in the slightest, however we should address your role in the sisterhood.”  
“If I'd know...”  
“It still wouldn't have mattered”  
“What?”  
“What do you know of your earliest years?”  
“I know that I was picked up by the Order of the Cleansing Water and taken aboard one of their ships from a world that had been under martial law that the sisters of the Order of the Argent Shroud were enforcing.”  
“Do you know why?”  
“No, I just assumed that-”  
“-that you were picked up as an orphan. That is partially the truth, the reality is you were picked up while approximately 100 other children were turned over to a local orphanage. The reason the sisterhood took you away from that world was because you had performed a miracle.”  
“A miracle?” She repeated, her voice a whisper, partly due to surprise, partly to maintain the feminine voice that she desperately wanted to have. “What miracle could I have possibly performed as an infant?” she asked  
“The most basic of the Sisterhood's Acts of Faith, the Ageis Fidei.” The Canoness paused to let that fact sink in, then continued, “The hive you were born into was attacked by heretics and traitor marines of the Alpha Legion, and while the traitor Astartes numbered less than one score and ten, they were adept at hiding and raiding. On one such raid your nursery was fired upon and...” the Canoness's voice broke, showing her sense of humanity that conflicted with with her role as a canoness. “You were the only survivor, untouched, unharmed, and protected as if by the Emperor himself. The Sisters that found you were keen on having you inducted and while I shared their sentiments I knew raising you as a girl would have caused an uproar at the time. Since then things have changed greatly, and women such as yourself now serve openly, under the light of the Emperor.” She paused and pulled a battered folder with multiple documents and placed it on her desk. Isabella was still troubled by what she had heard, but she had a question or two, so she stepped forward. “So you knew I'd step forward when you made that declaration” Isabella's mind flashed back to that moment. It was at an evening meal about half a solar cycle ago. Flashes flew through her mind as she heard the Canoness's words, declaring that trans women could now serve openly. She felt herself stand when bidden. She could feel the mocking laughter behind her. The canoness even had seemed to hold her in contempt, but-  
“Yes, I suppose I did. I did so in part to test your resolve. Few who are trained to be sisters truly have what it takes to serve Him-On-Terra and while you hold promise and often demonstrate physical courage, it will be your moral courage that is of the utmost to you understand?”  
“Yes, canoness” Isabella was on the verge of tears but was determined to show the moral courage the canoness wanted to see. The canoness sighed and added with a dour expression on her face, “Your concerns, however, were addressed by Palantine Breckenridge, and I won't be doing that again anytime soon. Additionally I have secured certain procedures to help with your transition as well as approved your hormone replacement therapy.” Isabella's expression brightened like nothing else, but she stopped herself from making any noises of embarrassed delight. The Canoness smiled briefly and continued, “Additionally I have made some inquiries and there should be nothing preventing you from joining whatever order you so desire, presupposing you otherwise meet the requirements. That is all, novice Isabella”  
“Ave Imperator, Canoness”  
“Ave Imperator, Isabella”  
Isabella walked out the door and smiled at Liliana who was digging through the nail polish basket. She had a sudden realization that struck her as wicked and perhaps unjustified until she remembered her cloak. “Hey, pass me the basket real quick” she whispered conspiratorially. Isabella quickly dug through the wicker basket and found what she was looking for. She ducked back into the Canoness's office and politely cleared her throat. The canoness looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Isabella took a deep breath and asked, “permission to speak, Canoness?”  
“Granted” came the slow, guarded reply  
“So, I, um, thought I'd offer these to Novice Elspeth as a sort of peace offering, can I leave them here?”  
“That's fine, make sure you get a hall pass to your afternoon classes”  
“Of course Canoness, thank you”  
“Ave Imperator, novice”  
“Ave Imperator, Canoness”

Isabella and Liliana walked back to class, pass in hand. Sure, she knew that the shade of pink she just dropped off was so garish that no one would willingly wear it, but under the circumstances turnabout seemed like fair play.


End file.
